Many of the earliest wood dolls are barely more than a wood block with rough features. The dolls were inexpensive and plentiful, thus becoming the dolls of the poor. By the fifteenth century, however, artisans were attempting to carve dolls with movable limbs and bodies. This craft eventually led to an extensive trade of which Germany and France became the leaders. As the artisans developed their skills, the dolls became more sophisticated. Most of them had delicately painted facial features and were fully jointed to allow them to be posed in a variety of ways.
Many of these dolls were elaborately dressed like this doll, named Felicity Cartwright. This Queen Anne style doll was the favorite of Ann Brunnier, a nationally known doll collector and founder, with her husband Henry, of the Brunnier Art Museum. The doll was made in England and is dressed in her original underclothes and dress.